When we got up the next morning, the others in the courtyard were already packing up and getting ready to hit the road.
There really wasn’t much to pack anyway.
Most of what we had brought were food supplies, and we’d basically eaten all of that during our days in the mountains.
The vehicles at the entrance were the ones the Big beard and his group had found for us.
All we needed to do was finish breakfast, get in, and set off.
During breakfast, Sister He prepared a whole pile of things for us.
She even asked repeatedly if we wanted to stay a few more days before leaving.
They only thought of us as ordinary people who had faced countless dangers on our way to the government shelter.
In the end, Big beard declined all the extra supplies.
Their family of five would practically be sitting and eating through everything this small town had left once we were gone—how could we take more of their things?
While waiting after breakfast, I suddenly remembered what Suo Tian and I saw yesterday when we passed by the school.
So I turned to Sister He and asked, “In that school on the west side of the town… are there still other survivors inside?”
Her in-laws froze for a moment, then quickly answered for her, “Of course. A few teachers with twenty or thirty students. They’re quite something.”
Suo Tian, who had been speaking with the Big beard, heard the old lady’s words and turned his head as well.
Shen Feng was visibly intrigued. “Teachers with students? Is that a middle school?”
“Mm. Good thing it’s a junior high. If they were little kids, how could such a big group survive till now?”
Hearing the old lady’s explanation, all of us showed expressions of surprise.
None of us had imagined that teachers—armed with nothing but textbooks—could be that resilient, guarding a place and keeping a group of students alive in a world like this.
A faint sense of pride even rose in my heart.
They were colleagues, after all.
But before that pride could fully swell, it was already time for us to officially depart.
Because there weren’t many cars, we had to squeeze several people into each one.
To balance our strength, we were mixed in with the men in black.
I ended up in a car with Suo Tian, Uncle Gazi, Lili, the two kids, and Han Xue.
Xu Shu, Shen Feng, Yangyang, Chen Pu, and the Big beard were in another.
Dr. Yang was still being kept under close watch in a vehicle by himself with the black-clad men.
Wang Jun and Song Meijing’s group had found a minivan to follow behind us.
After bidding farewell to Sister He’s family, our convoy officially set off.
They had already filled the tanks of all the cars beforehand.
As we slowly drove out of the town and onto the narrow road, we passed the school again.
I stared at the tightly shut gates for a moment, quietly hoping that they could keep surviving—stay strong for as long as possible.
Xiao Hu had fallen asleep in Han Xue’s arms.
Tingyun wanted to sit in the front seat and play, so I took her from Uncle Gazi and held her in my lap.
The car was quiet for a while.
I leaned my head against the seatback, looking at the distant mountains.
The sorrow and reluctance I’d been holding down began to rise inside me.
Rongrong… is she still alive?
Has her consciousness recovered?
Alone in those mountains… spending the night all by herself… was she scared?
The more I thought about it, the tighter my chest felt.
Even my throat burned with a sour ache.
Perhaps more than anything, it was a sense of helplessness.
When it came to Rongrong, I believed that even Suo Tian’s calm reaction was simply the result of reaching the limits of helplessness.
Facing this world, facing the virus, facing her condition that could flare up at any moment—every one of us had always been powerless, completely unable to do anything.
There’s an old saying: “Things don’t happen more than three times.”
But what happened to Rongrong and Zhao Qiuting wasn’t some trivial matter.
Keeping them with us meant risking the lives of innocent people at any moment.
Suo Tian insisted on protecting Rongrong, but in just a few hours, he was injured by the very person he had tried to protect.
Giving up on Rongrong was inevitable—something none of us wanted, but something we had no choice but to accept.
In those mountains, we could barely protect ourselves.
There was nothing we could do for her.
Maybe the people behind me sensed my mood.
Han Xue, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke to Suo Tian, who was driving:
“You said Rongrong would be fine, didn’t you? Then why did she end up biting you later?”
Hearing that, Suo Tian glanced at her through the rearview mirror and replied, “I don’t know.”
“That… that Gulunuo person didn’t know the reason either?” Uncle Gazi couldn’t quite pronounce Bruno’s name.
“Bruno can only rely on data and machines.” After answering, Suo Tian seemed to remember something.
“That guy surnamed Yang mentioned something.”
“Dr. Yang? What did he say?” Han Xue asked.
“Rongrong and Zhao Qiuting’s situation might not have been simple mental illness. It’s possible that it was a viral infection.”
At those words, I whipped my head around to look at him.
My eyes instinctively drifted toward the wound on his shoulder.
“A virus? You mean the walker virus?”
Uncle Gazi, Han Xue, and Lili all looked similarly shocked.
“Mm,” Suo Tian nodded.
“We’re not sure yet. That Yang guy’s brain is messed up—he could only offer some speculation.”
“Then… what about my wound? And his?” Lili was obviously frightened.
“It’s fine. If there was going to be a complication, it would’ve shown up within a few hours. You’re safe.”
For once, Suo Tian’s words were comforting.
Earlier, during the cliff crossing and while assigning cars, he had been intentionally or unintentionally protecting Lili.
Wang Jun only cursed under his breath but didn’t take further action.
Ever since they reunited yesterday, I hadn’t seen Lili and Wang Jun speak even once.
Aside from sneaking glances when the children cried, she treated him as if he didn’t exist.
It seemed she had completely given up on him.
Suo Tian’s reassurance eased my mind somewhat, but the more I thought about it, the more things didn’t quite add up.
If they were infected with the virus… why were they otherwise normal?
They only occasionally lost control, and those bitten by them didn’t get infected.
That was nothing like the original virus.
Thinking about it, I simply voiced my doubts to Suo Tian.
“When we get back to headquarters, someone will give us clear answers.”
Just as he finished speaking, Lili asked, “How much longer until we reach there?”
“Two to three days.”
After leaving the town, we entered a winding mountain road.
The road was clearly old.
Riding in the car was enough to make anyone break into a cold sweat.
One side pressed against sheer rock cliffs; the other side was a bottomless abyss—with not even a guardrail.
After trembling our way forward along that dangerous road, by afternoon our convoy finally reached the next town.
This place was built almost the same as the previous one—surrounded by mountains on all sides.
But whether it was because this town had a larger population than the last, or for some other reason, the walkers here were clearly far more numerous.
Dozens of walkers roamed the streets.
There were many of them, but we had no intention of giving up on this place.
Everyone had gone a long time without eating—we needed supplies.
The drivers chose a rather brutal approach this time.
After picking a street, the cars simply charged straight through.
Walkers, hearing the noise, naturally moved toward us.
So while our vehicles sped down the street, the impact and crushing from multiple cars left many walkers sprawled across the road—which no longer had legs or even half a body.
They were still opening their mouths wide, trying to bite us, but without legs they could only roar helplessly from the ground.
The cars stopped in front of a shop.
Before they even fully halted, we all jumped out quickly.
Lili stayed inside to look after Xiaohu and Tingyun.
The rest of us—including Han Xue—grabbed our daggers, ready to face these walkers, along with the countless others pouring in from other streets!
Han Xue had never actually killed walkers before.
Xu Shu and I shielded her behind us, letting her watch how we handled them.
We had cooperated many times in the past.
The moment Suo Tian gave the forward signal, we joined the black-clad men and rushed ahead.
The street wasn’t wide.
At first, the walkers originally roaming there were fairly spread out, but as walkers from other streets heard the noise and surged toward us, the narrow street quickly packed tight and boiled over with movement.
The black-clad men moved with perfect coordination.
Xu Shu and I guarded the outer ring—everyone instinctively formed a circle.
This formation was best for fighting large groups of walkers.
In rotational combat, teamwork was everything.
While focusing on the walkers in front of us, we also kept track of the people on our sides.
If anyone showed signs of being overwhelmed, we immediately shoved them into the inner part of the circle.
This reduced the chances of casualties as much as possible.
Xu Shu and I fought shoulder-to-shoulder.
Her strikes were fierce—every stab went clean through a walker’s skull.
Watching her made my scalp prickle; with every blow she delivered, I almost felt the ache in my own head.
My usual tactic was to kick the walker down first before finishing it off.
My arm strength wasn’t enough to do nonstop head-piercing strikes like they did; my hands would go numb in no time.
After smashing a few walker heads, I tightened my grip on my dagger, feeling how awkward it was.
At that moment, Han Xue, who had been standing behind us quietly, squeezed her way forward.
Imitating Xu Shu, she took a step ahead, targeted a walker lunging at us, and drove her knife straight into its eye socket.
The walker fell silent instantly.
Returning to the formation, Han Xue gave both me and Xu Shu a proud look.
In the brief moment before the next walker rushed us, we both gave her a thumbs-up.
Once Han Xue joined in, she quickly adapted to our tactics.
She was smart and quick-thinking.
When I kicked down a walker and began to demonstrate what she should do next, she had already rushed forward and stabbed the fallen walker’s skull on her own.
Soon, everyone had slipped into rhythm.
Within moments, apart from the roars of the walkers, the only sounds around us were the repeated squelch, squelch of blades sinking into skulls.
— The end of the Chapter–
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